THE Senate, yesterday passed the sum of N4.493 trillion budget for the 2015 fiscal year, but with an increment of N51 billion above the estimate of N4.425 trillion submitted to the National Assembly by the Federal Government for approval.
This came as the Senate President, David Mark, tasked the executive to be prudent in the management of the nation’s resources.
The passage followed the adoption of the report of the Senate Committees on Appropriations and Finance on the 2015 Appropriation Bill, tabled before the Red Chamber by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Ahmed Maccido, APC, Sokoto North, during its plenary.
But Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Ahmad Lawan, APC, Yobe North, hinted that in spite of the passage, the National Assembly was still expecting the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to send a supplementary budget to the 8th Assembly, when he assumes power from May 29, 2015.
Lawan faulted the budget passed, saying there was no balance between capital allocation and recurrent expenditure proposed just as he said the budget was not implementable without supplementary from the incoming government to be headed by General Muhammadu Buhari.
But in his remark, after the passage, Senate President, David Mark, asked executive to be prudent in the management of resources in the country.
In the budget passed, there was no provision for fuel and kerosene subsidies in 2015 even as it increased the oil benchmark to $53 per barrel against the $52 per barrel, proposed by the executive. But it retained the crude oil production of 2.2782 million barrel per day just as it retained exchange rate of N190 to a United States dollar with also a deficit gross domestic product (GDP) of -1.12 per cent..
But it also reduced the N2,607,601,000,300 proposed by the executive to N2.607, 132,491,708 as recurrent expenditure and simultaneously scaled down the capital expenditure from N642,848,999,699 estimated in the proposal to N556,995,465,449.
The budget also put fiscal deficit at N1.075 trillion.
The parliament also approved the sum of N953.6 billion for debt service, N375.6 billion as statutory transfers and N21 billion for Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P.
Education takes the lion share of the budget with N392.3 billion followed by N338.7 billion for the military and N303.8 billion budget for police commands and formations.
In the same vein, N237 billion was voted for health sector, N153 billion for the Ministry of Interior while the Ministry of Works has meager sum of N25.1 billion.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Ahmed Maccido, while briefing newsmen, after the passage of the budget, said the non inclusion of the fuel subsidies was carried out by the Federal Government, adding that the government’s action was wrong.
Presenting the report earlier, Senator Maccido noted that the federal government had earlier tabled the budget of N4.357 trillion before the National Assembly on December 17, last year, before withdrawing it and consequently reviewing the figure down to N4.425 trillion.
“You would recall that on 17th December, 2014, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria through the Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy and Hon. Minister of Finance, laid before the two chambers of the National Assembly, the 2015 Appropriation Bill, containing the estimates of revenue and expenditure of the federation for the 2015 fiscal year with an aggregate sum of N4.357,960,000,000 only, of which N411,840,000,000 only, is for debt service; N2,616,007,426,233 only, is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure while the balance of N387,112,573,767 only, is for contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure for the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2015.”
“However, the executive later forwarded a reviewed proposal in the sum of N4,425,930,000,000 only, for statutory transfers; N953,620,000 only is for debt service; N2,607,601,000,300 only is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure while the balance of N642,848,999,699 inclusive of N144,420,000,000 capital expenditure in statutory transfers, is for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure for the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2015. This review was an increase of N67.97 billion over the initial proposal.
“There is a Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) component of the budget to the tune of N21,030,000,000. This amount did not form the aggregate budget figure of N4,425,930,000,000 only, contained in the bill laid before the National Assembly. This has however, been captured in the final compilation of the bill, having been submitted for approval of the National Assembly,” he said.
In the end, Maccido said the Joint National Assembly Committee on Appropriations and Finance eventually approved the sum of N4.493, 363,957,158 trillion as the total 2015 budget out of which he said N375, 616, 000,000 trillion is for statutory transfers, N953,620,000,000 for debt service, N2.607, 132,491,708 for recurrent expenditure and the balance of N556,995, 465, 449 including N144,420,000,000 in statutory transfer as contribution to Development Fund for Capital Expenditure for the year ending December 31, 2015.
“The constitutional provision is that we should have even passed the budget before now but due to the exigencies of this period, we have just passed it. But we have done our constitutional duty very well, but I believe that the incoming administration will very swiftly bring a request for a supplementary budget and because it is going to be a progressive government and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, this supplementary budget will try to balance between the capital allocation that will be very much required in Nigeria and the recurrent.
The one we have passed is typical of the kind PDPs submission to the National Assembly, “he said.
Senator Ahmad Lawan, while speaking on the budget,said: “In fact, the budget we have just passed is five to one against the capital allocation when we just have about N500 billion against N2.6 trillion that is going to recurrent. So we are going to do a review definitely because the incoming administration will have to bring something of that nature for a supplementary request.
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